Thousands of Montrealers attended in a festive atmosphere the parade held Wednesday in the heart of downtown to celebrate the Alouettes’ victory in the Gray Cup, which many had been waiting for with hope for 13 years.
” That’s wonderful ! » says Nina Sauvé with a smile, who has been a big fan of the Montreal football team since the age of 15. She is one of the thousands of people who gathered Wednesday morning to watch a parade of Alouettes players who came to proudly brandish the Gray Cup that they won at the end of a season full of twists and turns.
This culminated on Sunday with a 28-24 victory for the Montreal Alouettes, who faced the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Hamilton.
This is the eighth Gray Cup victory in the history of the Alouettes and the first since 2010. It is therefore no surprise that the atmosphere was festive on Wednesday, as from 11:30 a.m. a parade of dancers and acrobats, as well as four trucks on the roof of which the players of the victorious team were celebrating, beer in hand.
In front of these heavy vehicles, sports cars were also paraded, including businessman and owner of the Alouettes Pierre Karl Péladeau. In another car, we could see, all smiles, the quarterback Cody Fajardo, greeted from all sides by citizens who came to mass behind barriers installed along Boulevard De Maisonneuve on the occasion of this parade, held under surveillance policewoman.
“Cody, Cody!” » chanted supporters of the Montreal team, while the well-known song Conceived by John Lennon played in the background of this event which attracted young and old to downtown Montreal.
The parade, lasting approximately 45 minutes, culminated in front of a stage installed on the Place des Festivals, in front of which thousands of people gathered on the sidelines of the 110e Gray Cup. Several brandished Quebec flags, a sweater in homage to their favorite Sparrow player on their back.